Zero: Evacuate to safe zone ASAP.
Safe zone? In the Truth Seekers’ game, this meant that danger was afoot either from incoming fire or WMDs, or more commonly known as weapons of mass destruction. Harry had shown the team the Safe Zone during orientation training. It was located in a hidden underground bunker, a few blocks from the GN office. Gabriel had made a sarcastic comment saying, “Harry’s really taking the online game beyond Virtual Reality.”
Onyx: What’s going on?
Zero: Follow protocol. Will contact you in 10 hours.
Harry logged off the video chat. She closed the lid of her laptop slowly.
“So, what did he text you?” Jenna asked.
Joanna heard what she said, but she couldn’t move a muscle.
“Joanna, are you going to tell me or what?”
When reality finally sunk in, she turned to her and said, “Pack your stuff. We have to get out of here.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” Jenna laughed.
Joanna grabbed both her shoulders and shook her hard. “Did you hear what I said? Get your crap, now!”
Jenna’s eyes widened, her tanned skin turning visibly pale. “What’s going on, Joanna? You’re scaring me.”
The confident Jenna Adams looked like she was going to wet her pants.
Joanna said in a low, soft voice, “If you want to live, we have to leave now.”
Chapter 21
This Is Not Right
THE TIMING WAS ALL WRONG. He couldn’t believe Cristal would run off with Kerim, someone she barely knew. He wished he could have told her the truth. The truth about the tests that Dr. Saeed had been secretly performing on her while she was “working” at GN. She didn’t realize that the computer monitor she was using had a special sensor connected to the camera, which monitored her brain activity and breathing. Nor did she know that the mouse had tiny needles that pricked her finger and collected micro-samples of her blood.
Harry slammed his fist on the table.
“I told those guys not to go to the black hole locations with Cristal.”
Not one of them understood how dangerous this would be. The rules were clear, just like in the Truth Seekers’ game; no one was allowed to question him about the missions.
But this wasn’t the game anymore, and Harry didn’t know what to do. He had to figure out which location they were heading to. There were three black hole locations—one was in Eilat, the most southern part of Israel; one was in the West Bank near Bethlehem in the central part; and one closest to the GN office in Akko in the northern part.
If only he could pick up the GPS tracking signal from Cristal’s cell phone. He had spent the last five minutes trying to search for it on the computer terminal in the GN’s IT office, with no luck. And where in the hell was Dr. Saeed? He walked out of the room and down the hallway to the medical lab. It was late in the evening and only staff with security clearance could work after hours. Fortunately, Harry happened to be one of them.
Two Israeli security guards armed with rifles walked by him. He looked them straight in the eye and nodded his head. They looked down at his GN staff ID around his neck before walking past him.
Harry began analyzing which location would be the most possible out of the three black hole locations Kerim would be headed to. He hoped that it was the one in Akko, the closest to the GN office. It made the most sense for them to go there, given that he had told Kerim and Rinaldo to stay away from that specific location. But if he were wrong, he would be going in the completely opposite direction of the other black hole locations, which meant losing precious time. He needed time to stop Cristal from reaching the black hole.
He turned down the hallway to the medical labs until he reached the one that GN had assigned to Dr. Saeed. The room looked empty through the glass window in the door. He decided to go inside anyway and check.
He swiped his keycard and opened the door. It was dark inside the room. It took a few minutes before his eyes could adjust to the darkness. No sign of Dr. Saeed. He was about to turn around and leave, concluding that he would have to go find Cristal and Kerim without him.
He paused and listened. He swore he could hear muffled voices. He looked across the room and noticed light streaming from under the closet door on the far wall. Cautiously, he walked towards the light. The sound of two male voices in a deep conversation was becoming louder.
When he reached the door, he noticed it was slightly ajar. He peeked into the crack and saw that the back of the closet was a fake wall with a door half hidden by boxes. He remembered going into the closet many times to get supplies, but he had never noticed the door before. Now it seemed that the hidden door was open, and the light was coming from behind it—a secret room?